Soleron on 07 March 2013
They're publicising it as a console, but it's really just a PC that people /know/ will play certain games, reducing the barrier to entry to being a PC. It's much less risk.
It won't be custom hardware, the custom software is mostly written already, PR seems free for Valve (anything he says gets everywhere), and ultimately they don't have to sell many units to recoup the cost of the project. They don't have to beat anyone.
People playing on a PC now won't have any incentive to move to consoles that they don't have already. Do you really think PS4 changes anything?
The only threat to Valve is the one facing the whole games industry: disinterest in the product they're making regardless of platform due to lack of quality or focus.
